Hinge



Nov. 12, 1957 K. A. LUNDELL HINGE Filed May 7, 1953 ZNVENTOR. Ker-mi? A. U/naefl BY v FIG.

v 2 J v2 V 4 "hired States Patent Office 2,812,53 Patented Nov. 12, 1957 HINGE Kermit A. Lundell, Jamestown, N. Y., assignor to Weber- Knapp Company, Jamestown, N. Y., a corporation of New York This invention relates to improvements in hinges for use in the mounting of doors or closures in the access I openings of, cabinets and the like. More particularly, the invention is directed to the provision of a hinge structure for use with a lapped type door as distinguished from a so-called flush type.

The present invention is found to be well suited to the installation of doors of utility cabinets or cupboards wherein frequently required articles, such as food products, cleaning equipment, etc.,- may be stored. Access to a cabinet of this type, particularly when located in the kitchen, is very frequent and a large door and opening is generally provided for greater access convenience. It has been found, however, that these relatively large doors are of the nature of a hazard, as they are frequently left open,

or swing open from a presumed closed position, into that area of a room or passagein which a person may be required to move about. Of course, there are'latches of various kinds that may -be provided for securing a door in closed position andalso some type of spring may be against the spring action with one hand while attempting to place articles in, or remove them from, the cabinet.

It is a purpose and object of the present invention to provide a simple, inexpensive, and easily installed combined cabinet door hinge and actuator.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a cabinet door hinge that enables the use of a small, inconspicuous spring structure as an actuator to urge the door into closed or opened position.

It is a still further object of the invention to include spring structure in a cabinet door hinge that will urge into, and yieldingly hold a door in, closed position and, when the door has been opened beyond a certain point, urge it into, and yieldingly hold it in, fully opened position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be more fully understood and appreciated from a consideration of the following specification, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing; in which- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a cabinet in which the hinge and actuator structure of the invention is embodied, one of the doors of the cabinet being open to disclose the hinge location;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view showing the position of the hinge parts when the door is closed, being taken substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view showing the position of the hinge parts when the door is fully opened, being taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view, taken substantially as suggested by the line i4 of Fig. 3, certain parts of the door being broken away for clarity of illustration.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the reference numeral 10 is employed to generally designate a cabinet. It will be understood that the cabinet shown is merely for purposes of illustration and that the combined hinge and actuator hereinafter described is applicable to a variety of cabinets. In the present disclosure the cabinet 10 is provided with two lapped doors 11. These doors are hinged at the cabinet ends and their free edges are intended, when the doors are closed, to have only operative clearance to enable selective opening or closing of the doors. The upright ends of the access opening to the cabinet are defined as front continuations of the cabinet end walls and give the appearance of narrow upright posts or panels 12. The inner edge of each panel may terminate in an inturned flange 13, the edge of which may be rolled, substantially as suggested at 14. The cabinet door 11 is of hollow construction and includes an outer panel 16, the edges of which are rolled or rounded to form rims 17, substantially as suggested in the drawing. The inner panel 18 is joined, in any suitable manner, as by welding, to the rim 17. The manner of joining the panel 18 to the panel 16 is of no importance to the invention other than that the hinge structure must be applied to the inner panel before securing the door panels together.

The combined hinge and actuator, in two parts, represents the equivalent of conventional hinge leaves. A boxlike bracket 19 constitutes that portion of the structure that is carried by the door 1 1. This bracket includes top and bottom flanges 21 which are secured to the inner door panel 18 in any suitable manner, as by rivets 22. The bracket is provided with pins 23 and 24 which are located generally at diagonally opposite corners and extend into, and are secured at their ends in, corresponding opposite walls 26. The walls 26 are integral with an end wall 27. The end opposite thewall 27 is open except for the provision of a pair of lugs 28.

The other member of the hinge structure takes the form of an arm 29. This arm is given particular shape in order that, when joined to the door mounted bracket, relative movement of the parts of the hinge will be such as to cause the door, in its open position, to be withdrawn from close proximity with the face of the cabinet and in the closed position, to abut the rim of the cabinet access opening. One end portion 31 of the arm is flat and of approximately the length of the cabinet flange 13. This end portion is attached in any suitable manner, as by a screw 32. Just beyond the point of emergence of the arm beyond the vertical plane of the cabinet front, it is formed with an angular flange 33 and this relatively short, angular flange continues ina further acute angle flange 34. The free end of the flange 34 is rolled, as at 36, to receive the pivot pin 23. Attached to the outer face of flange 34 are lugs 37. These lugs are spaced apart and parallel and extend in the direction of the length of the flange. The lugs serve to mount a pin 38. This pin anchors one end of a 0 spring 39. The other end of this spring is anchored by the pin 24, carried by the bracket 19. A comparison of the relative pivotal position of the bracket 19 and arm 29 indicates that spring 39 is off center at one side of a straight line between pins 23 and 2 when the door is closed, and off center on the opposite side of such a line when the door is in opened position.

Thus, the end of the spring carried by the arm 29 moves 18. A small rectangular opening 41 is made in this inner panel to enable movement of the flanges 33 and 34 of the arm into and out of the bracket during relative movement of these parts. With the hinge structure mounted on the panel, the panel is then permanently secured to the rim of the door panel 16. The door may now be placed in proper position with respect to the cabinet opening and the flange 13 drilled at the location of the screw opening in the arm. Following this, the arm is secured to the cabinet by the screw 32. Although it may be feasible to mount a small door on a cabinet through the use of only one hinge, it is generally contemplated to provide at least two of the hinges embodying the invention and, thus, the extent of force applied 'by the spring 39 would be doubled and a large door would be properly urged into fully closed and abutting relationship with the front of the cabinet. The lugs 28 .on the bracket 19 serve as stops to limit relative pivotal movement of the bracket and arm, substantially as shown in Fig. 3. When the flange 34 of arm 29 contacts these lugs, the door 11 will have moved to fully clear the cabinet access opening and will be substantially at right angles to the face of the cabinet. Due to the continued urging of springs 39, the door will remain in this open position until sufiic'ient force is applied to its free edge to overcome the spring urge and cause the parts of the hinge to so relatively move that the spring passes through and beyond dead-center position. At this time, the door 11 will have approached closed position and upon releasing the door action of spring 39 will cause it to close and remain closed,

From the foregoing it is evident that a simple yet rugged hinge construction may be provided for large cabinet doors and by the inclusion of an actuator for relatively moving the hinge parts when they approach one of two extreme positions, it becomes unnecessary to provide latches or other fasteners to hold the door in fully closed position. Also, no bumpers or other checks are needed to hold the door in fully opened position. It will also be clear that by reason of the particular structure of at least one of the parts of the hinge, the end of a flush type door may be made to occupy a position in a common plane with the end of a cabinet when the door is closed and will be removed from the cabinet when the door is opened and the inner face of the door will lie in substantially the plane of the vertical wall of the cabinet access opening.

Although applicant has shown and described only one form of the invention, it will be apparent that modifications of this structure by which to adapt it to the mounting of doors other than those illustrated, may be made and are contemplated insofar as such modifications are within the spirit and scope of the annexed claim.

Having thus set forth my invention, what I claim as new and for which I desire protection by Letters Patent In a cabinet or the like having an access opening and a hollow door adapted to close said opening; a door mount and actuator comprising an arm secured at one end to a wall of said cabinet that defines one edge of said opening, a box-like bracket secured to an inner panel of said door with an open side thereof registering with an opening in said panel, apin in said bracket secured to opposite walls thereoflmeans for pivotally mounting the other end of said arm on said bracket, spaced parallel lugs on said arm adjacent the pivotal means of said arm, a further pin carried by said lugs, a 6 spring, one end of said spring being engaged with said first-named pin, the other end of said spring being engaged with saidlfurther pin, said spring upon relative movement of said arm and bracket during opening and closing of the door, urging said door into opened or closed position.

References Cited in the file-of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

